Had a few more duck species yesterday afternoon at DeKorte, including a seldom seen Wood Duck (drake).

Also has Northern Pintail, distant) Northern Shoveler and Green-winged Teal, to bring today's total number of duck species to 12.

Other highlights from DeKorte today included (distant) Bald Eagle and — on Disposal Road — Turkey Vulture, Sharpie and three male Pheasants in flight (to go with the Red-tails and Northern Harriers. Did not see the Rough-leg today. One was seen Thursday.

A check of the impoundments this a.m. turned up Ring-necked Duck (new for the year), Canvasback, Bufflehead, Gadwall, Ruddy, Mallard, Common Merg and Black Duck. Wished we'd brought a spotting scope for the distant waterfowl.

Note: Ron Shields reports that bout 50 Ring-necks are at the Kearny Marsh as well.

Thanks to the Meadowlands Commission's art director, Mimi Sabatino, the crude DeKorte Duck Map we put together in December has been superseded by a spiffy new improved version, and The Record's Environmental Writer Jim O'Neill did a nifty story on it — it's on Page L-3 of The Record and Page C6 of The Record's sister paper, the Herald News.

We'll post a link when it becomes available.

To help novice birders identify the various species, we have included photos the "Ducky Dozen" — the most-likely-to-be-seen ducks, and what tidal impoundments you are most likely to see them. As we note on the map, "Your duckage may differ."

Work on Jill's Butterfly Garden in DeKorte Park continues, with a new pergola being put into place this week. Plenty of work remains — including replantings and new plantings — but we are making progress.

With spring just around the corner, the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission is pleased to play host to "The Joys of Birding," a free six-hour course brought to you by the Bergen County Audubon Society on three successive Sundays in April.

The three two-hour classes will cover optics for birding, field guides, how to better identify birds, and great birding spots close to home.

The classes will take place at the Meadowlands Environment Center on Sunday April 3, April 10 and April 17 from 1 to 3 p.m.

The NJMC's Jim Wright, who keeps this blog, also writes a nature column for The South Bergenite. His latest is on Ring-necked Pheasants and other winter birds. You can read it here:

It may be mid-winter, but the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission’s DeKorte Park and environs are buzzing with unusual birds.

Not only are the Canvasback Ducks, the Rough-Legged hawks and the White-crowned Sparrows — our visitors from Canada – still hanging around, but we also have been treated to great looks at a bird that has become increasingly rare just about everywhere else in the state.

The bird is the Ring-necked Pheasant, and its size and wonderful plumage make it like no other bird around.

The great thing is, you can see all four of these birds within a few hundreds yards of each other – albeit with a little luck.

The pheasants, the Rough-legged Hawks and the White-crowned Sparrows have been regularly along Disposal Road by the AmVets Carillon. The canvasbacks have been rafting by the dozen in the Saw Mill Creek Tidal Impoundment in nearby DeKorte Park.

“The Meadowlands are the perfect place for ring-necked pheasants for three reasons — food, cover and water,” says NJMC naturalist Mike Newhouse. “Our closed landfills provide all three requirements.”

The landfills, Newhouse explains, are covered with mugwort, which produces plenty of seeds each fall. Also, phragmites provides protection from predators. And pheasants also like to be near wetlands – which they are abundant here.

The Rough-legged hawks are beautiful cousins of our common Red-tailed Hawk. They flew down from Canada after food supplies got scarce, and have been seen hunting over our closed landfills ever since.

That’s great news, since these hawks visit our region sporadically. Last year, for example, only one was seen — and then only for a couple of days. This year as many as five Rough-legs have been spotted.

Although these large hawks come in two plumages, light morph and dark morph, this year we have had primarily light-morph rough-legs.

The Canvasbacks and White-crowned Sparrow are dependable winter visitors. The only questions each year are when they’ll arrive and how long they’ll stay. We typically see them just about every day from mid-December and then, before we know it, they’re gone.

The adult White-crowned Sparrows are easy to spot because of the three white stripes on top of their heads. The juveniles are harder to identify. Aside from their pinkish bills, they are a one-way ticket to Drabville.

The Canvasbacks are easy to find in the Saw Mill Creek Tidal Impoundment because they are large ducks with reddish brown heads, black chests and light bodies, and they tend to raft in large groups.

“The canvasbacks and other waterfowl should still be plentiful as long as the water doesn’t freeze,” says Newhouse.

Laurel Hill in Secaucus is the locale for many of our free guided walks, including one next month — on Sunday, March 20. But the site offers more than great birds — it offers an amazing history lesson as well.

Rising 150 feet from Laurel Hill County Park in Secaucus and abutting the eastern spur of the New Jersey Turnpike, Snake Hill is a common sight for Secaucus residents and those passing through town on the Turnpike.

Just as impressive is Snake Hill’s fascinating history as the one-time home to Hudson County’s most notorious institutions, including the County’s Almshouse, Penitentiary, Asylum and Tuberculosis Sanatorium.

Snake Hill 1948

Hudson County purchased Snake Hill in 1855. At the time the rock jutted 200 feet into the sky, and its base area consisted of 25 acres of rugged open space.

As legend goes, early Dutch settlers found the rock infested with numerous snakes as long as 15 feet. They named the area “slangenberg,” Dutch for Snake Hill. L. E. Travis, editor of the Bayonne Evening News, reported in the late 1870s that, upon sailing the Hackensack River near Snake Hill, “for not less than a quarter mile of shoreline, the steep bank was a mass of hissing, squirming, villainous water snakes.”

The County Almshouse was constructed in 1863 to provide a home to the feeblest of the region’s residents. A penitentiary followed in 1870. The asylum was built in 1873 with accommodations for 140 patients. A county general hospital, a tuberculosis sanatorium, a boy’s camp and churches were soon added to the sprawling base of the hill.

A report produced in 1873 noted that 427 people were housed in the almshouse at a cost of $89 per person per year. A new almshouse was built later and the original facility came to serve as an infirmary. The number of residents at the Almshouse increased to 689 by 1913, with the per capita cost of care soaring to $150 per year.

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